Be (), also known as Ong Be, Bê, or ''Vo Limgao'' (Mandarin: 临高话 ''Lín'gāohuà''), is a pair of languages spoken by 600,000 people, 100,000 of them monolingual, on the north-central coast of Hainan Island, including the suburbs of the provincial capital Haikou. The speakers are counted as part of the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

nationality in census. According to ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'', it is taught in primary schools.

Names

Be speakers refer to themselves as ', with ' being the prefix for persons and ' meaning 'village'. Liang (1997) notes that it is similar to the autonym ' (from ' 'person' and ' 'village'), by which Gelong 仡隆 ( Cun language) speakers refer to themselves.

Classification

The Be languages are a pair of

Kra–Dai languages The Kra–Dai languages ( , also known as Tai–Kadai and Daic ), are a language family in mainland Southeast Asia, southern China, and northeastern India. All languages in the family are tonal language, tonal, including Thai language, Thai a ...

, but its precise relationship to other branches within the Kra-Dai family has yet not been conclusively determined. Hansell (1988) considers Be to be a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

of the Tai branch based on shared vocabulary, and proposes a ''Be–Tai'' grouping. Based on toponymic evidence from place names with the prefix ''dya''- (调 diao), Jinfang Li considers Be to have originated from the Leizhou peninsula of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province. Liang (1997:16) considers Be to have migrated to Hainan from the Leizhou Peninsula of

about 2,500 years ago during the

Warring States Period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

, but not over 3,000 years ago. Liang & Zhang (1996:21–25) also believe that Be had migrated from the Leizhou Peninsula to northern Hainan about 2,500 years ago during the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

. Weera Ostapirat (1998), analyzing data from Zhang (1992), notes that Be and Jizhao share many lexical similarities and sound correspondences, and that Jizhao may be a remnant Be-related language on the Chinese mainland.

Dialects

Be consists of the Lincheng 临城 (Western) and Qiongshan 琼山 (Eastern) dialects. Liang (1997:32) documents the following varieties of Be. *

Lingao County Língāo County (formerly romanised as Limko or Limkao) is an administrative district in Hainan province, China. It is one of the 4 counties of Hainan. Its postal code is 571800, and in 1999, its population was 399,057 people, who mainly speak ...

(including Lincheng 临城镇 and Xinying 新盈镇 towns) *Bailian 白莲, Chengmai County *Longtang Township 龙塘镇, Qiongshan District Be of Chengmai is intermediate between the Lincheng and Qiongshan dialects, and has features of both. Chen (2018) contains extensive comparative lexical data for the Be dialects of Changliu (長流), Yongxing (永興), Longtang (龍塘), Qiaotou (橋頭), Huangtong (皇桐), and Xinying (新盈). The Qiaotou, Huangtong, and Xinying dialects are unintelligible with the Changliu, Yongxing, Longtang, and Shishan (石山) dialects. Chen (2018) also reconstructs Proto-Ong-Be on the basis of this comparative lexical data.

Classification

Chen (2018: 82) classifies the Ong-Be dialects into two groups, which are mutually unintelligible with each other. *Ong-Be **Western Ong-Be ***Qiaotou 桥头 ***Huangtong 皇桐 ***Maniao 马尿 ***Lincheng 凌城 ***Jialai 加來 ***Meiliang 美良 ***Xinying 新盈 **Eastern Ong-Be ***Longtang 龙塘 ***Longqiao 龙橋 ***Longquan 龙泉 (formerly Shizilu 十字路) ***Yongxing 永兴 ***Shishan 石山 ***Changliu 长流 ***Laocheng 老城 Schmitz (2024) suggests three dialects: *Ong-Be (Lingao) **Lingao County Lingao ***Bohou 博厚 *** Jialai 加来 *** Lincheng 临城 **Chengmai County Lingao **Haikou City Lingao

Phonology

Consonants

Initials

* is mainly heard in finals, rarely in initials. * can also be heard as in free variation. * can be heard as in the dialect of Xindengyi.

Finals

Vowels

* Vowels in word-initial position are phonetically heard beginning with a glottal . * An open-mid vowel occurs in the Chengmai and Qiongshan dialects. * A near-open central vowel sound also occurs in the Qiongshan dialect.

Tones

Be is a tonal language. It has 5 tones: * Rising (¹) * High (²) * Mid (³) * Low (⁴) * Mid checked (⁷) The Bolian dialect has also a high checked tone (⁸).

References

Works cited

* * *Schmitz, Timo. 2024. ''Family Tree: Tai-Kadai Languages''.

External links

ABVD: Ong Be word list

Ong Be–language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words
(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh-list appendix
{{authority control Kra–Dai languages Languages of Hainan

Names

Classification

Dialects

Classification

Phonology

Consonants

Initials

Finals

Vowels

Tones

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading

External links